Apple Store Employees Sue for Bag Searches

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Former Apple store employees are suing the tech giant for damages over lost wages while they stood in line each shift so their bags could be searched by managers.

The ex-workers at New York and Los Angeles Apple stores filed a class-action suit which claims Apple made them stand up to a half hour in line each shift to make sure they weren't stealing merchandise.

The filing in San Francisco federal court estimated that workers lost $1,500 a year in wages, according to GigaOm. The complaint was filed by a worker at Apple’s Century City store in Los Angeles and another at its Soho location in New York. Both were deemed “specialists” until this spring, and are suing on behalf of thousands of Apple store workers across the country.

The complaint said that the bag search policy began after workers clocked out for a meal or left work, so their waiting time was unpaid. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages, but claims that Apple violate the Fair Labor Standards Act and state laws in both New York and California.

With all of Apple's technology, wouldn't it just be simpler to x-ray bags? That said, Apple had a huge problem with theft/mishandling of merchandise in its stores but it wasn't low-rung employees, according to one worker, it was managers trading iPads for weight-loss surgery.